I. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices for treating various medical conditions and, more particularly, relates to occlusion devices for treating various abnormalities within a patient's body.
II. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of intracardiac prosthetic devices are used in various medical procedures. For example, certain intravascular devices, such as catheters and guide wires, are generally used to deliver fluids or other medical devices to specific locations within the vascular system of a patient, such as a selective coronary artery. Other devices are used in treating specific conditions, such as devices used in removing vascular occlusions or for treating septal defects and the like. For example, devices have been developed for treating abnormalities, such as an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), a Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), as well as conditions that result from previous medical procedures such as Para-Valvular Leaks (PVL) following surgical valve repair or replacement.
However, the ability to deliver these devices to particular areas of the vasculature or for particular patients may be limited by their bulkiness. Previous devices typically require a 14-16 French introducing catheter, which generally makes it impossible to treat children affected with congenital defects with these devices. With respect to a PDA, a smaller, lower profile device that can fit through a 4 French catheter potentially allows treatment of pre-mature infants with a PDA. Moreover, some of these devices are used to occlude a patient's vessel or abnormality, such as to stop blood flow through an artery to a tumor or other lesion. Despite the general ability to occlude a vessel or abnormality, reducing the time needed to occlude the vessel or abnormality is desired so that the device may be accurately and effectively positioned and fixated within the vessel.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a reliable occlusion device which is both easy to deploy through a catheter having a reduced diameter and that can be accurately placed in a vessel or an organ. It would also be desirable to provide a low-profile recoverable device for deployment in a vessel or an organ of a patient's body. In addition, there exists a need for a collapsible medical device for occluding abnormal openings in an vessel or organ which provides rapid occlusion following delivery and placement thereof. Moreover, there is also a need for an occlusion device that may be effectively fixated within a vessel or an organ.